Mikumi wildlife Camp — Hotel in Morogoro Region

I would love to write a raving review of the camp, like the others, but our visit there was a bit different. First, there was the mix up over paying our entrance fee. We had been told they would only take US dollars, so that's what we brought. Upon checking in, however, they wouldn't take our US money, so one in our group put all our rooms on a credit card. We went to the Hippo Pond before dusk, and it was great to see these magnificent beasts, or at least their backs, anyway. Back to the Lodge for a tasty dinner...didn't see a single animal at the pond there. The highlight of the evening was the 4 Massai men who sang and danced for us. It was pitch black out, so we weren't able to get any photos of them. Our lodge room was comfortable, even after the electricity from the generators was shut off at 11:00, We were up and ready for the day before the electricity was turned back on at 6:00. ||Our bad timing was soon very evident.....the park was doing controlled burns off the grasslands, and we saw flames and smoke everywhere. Unfortunately, so did the animals, and we didn't see many. Two elephants, small herds of wildebeest, zebra, and impala. A few giraffe way off in the distance, two warthogs, but no cats of any kind. Most of our group were unable to get any decent photos because the animals were few, and so far off. The next hiccup came when we tried paying for our drinks and rooms. I gave my credit card for our whole group, but their charge card machine/wifi, was not working, and the card didn't go thru, even after trying multiple times, from different areas of the office and parking lot. We had each been able to exchange some of our US money for shillings the nite before from a local guest with our group, but the Lodge did not want shillings either. So now what. We then talked with a different guy, and he said, Oh, we take US dollars! Ugh! Since some of us had traded in for the shillings, we now had a mad scramble to pull together the US money for our whole group. We found a few nice things in the gift shop, and we were on our way, feeling rather frazzled with all the drama. Look at my other reviews....I very rarely grumble about an experience, and I am trying to highlight the good parts, but as you can notice, it was a bit disappointing after all that to miss the animals we had expected to see. Oh, one more thing. When we were showed our rooms, there were three single beds for three people, ...perfect. Later we were told there was an additional room with a big (queen or king?) bed, that we didn't know was part of our room...separate entrances, different room number....that we were charged for, too. The highway is quite close to the rooms, so don't expect quiet.||I didn't even mention the car accident we were in just before we got to the park...that's a whole different adventure! I sure hope your safari is much more relaxed...

I would love to write a raving review of the camp, like the others, but our visit there was a bit different. First, there was the mix up over paying our entrance fee. We had been told they would only take US dollars, so that's what we brought. Upon checking in, however, they wouldn't take our US money, so one in our group put all our rooms on a credit card. We went to the Hippo Pond before dusk, and it was great to see these magnificent beasts, or at least their backs, anyway. Back to the Lodge for a tasty dinner...didn't see a single animal at the pond there. The highlight of the evening was the 4 Massai men who sang and danced for us. It was pitch black out, so we weren't able to get any photos of them. Our lodge room was comfortable, even after the electricity from the generators was shut off at 11:00, We were up and ready for the day before the electricity was turned back on at 6:00. ||Our bad timing was soon very evident.....the park was doing controlled burns off the grasslands, and we saw flames and smoke everywhere. Unfortunately, so did the animals, and we didn't see many. Two elephants, small herds of wildebeest, zebra, and impala. A few giraffe way off in the distance, two warthogs, but no cats of any kind. Most of our group were unable to get any decent photos because the animals were few, and so far off. The next hiccup came when we tried paying for our drinks and rooms. I gave my credit card for our whole group, but their charge card machine/wifi, was not working, and the card didn't go thru, even after trying multiple times, from different areas of the office and parking lot. We had each been able to exchange some of our US money for shillings the nite before from a local guest with our group, but the Lodge did not want shillings either. So now what. We then talked with a different guy, and he said, Oh, we take US dollars! Ugh! Since some of us had traded in for the shillings, we now had a mad scramble to pull together the US money for our whole group. We found a few nice things in the gift shop, and we were on our way, feeling rather frazzled with all the drama. Look at my other reviews....I very rarely grumble about an experience, and I am trying to highlight the good parts, but as you can notice, it was a bit disappointing after all that to miss the animals we had expected to see. Oh, one more thing. When we were showed our rooms, there were three single beds for three people, ...perfect. Later we were told there was an additional room with a big (queen or king?) bed, that we didn't know was part of our room...separate entrances, different room number....that we were charged for, too. The highway is quite close to the rooms, so don't expect quiet.||I didn't even mention the car accident we were in just before we got to the park...that's a whole different adventure! I sure hope your safari is much more relaxed...

This place is extremely overpriced. We're used to staying in camps and budget lodges but for the high cost of this one, they really need to do better. We paid $300+ for a double room during low season. My nephew and his two friends paid almost $400 for a triple room after taxes! The only reason we chose this place was because it was a last minute trip, and the other lodges were booked up. ||Since we were staying within the park, we also had to pay a $30 per person per night "concession" fee along with the expected park entry. We also had a vehicle and had to pay the entry for it even though we wouldn't be taking it on safari with us.||More than half of the lights in our room didn't work. One of the lamps didn't even have a lightbulb in it. What's the point of even having lights and a generator? Solar powered would be much better. ||There was no hot water. Again, this isn't a big deal in a budget camp or lodge but for $300 a night? No thanks.||The food and service were mediocre. Macaroni with red sauce and cheese was the pasta dish. The staff were friendly, but it was difficult to get a straight answer for anything. No drink menu or ability to list what they have resulted in us having to ask about each specific beverage which was odd ("Do you have beer? Do you have bottled water?" Etc.). ||Since we had an early morning game drive, we asked in advance the night before if they could pack our breakfast to go. It didn't have to be anything major, just something simple like some eggs and toast. They didn't give us a direct answer and proceeded to talk amongst themselves for a few minutes. Then they said, "It's better if you come back for breakfast. What time do you want?" We explained we only had a half-day game drive in the morning before we drove back to Dar and didn't want to waste over an hour or two of it eating. They still insisted. After we told them, "Nevermind. Don't worry about it." they said they'd do it. It was bizarre and their pushback made us feel like we had requested something outrageous.||The good: the view of the savannah from the rooms are common area is nice. We saw animals in the distance. We were told water buffalo came up to the rooms while we were sleeping, and it's not uncommon for elephants to come up and drink from the pool. The rooms are spacious and though they have bugs and rodents in them (I stepped on a mouse when I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, ha), they had a proper mosquito net and sprayed the room for mosquitoes before going to bed. ||All of this said, I wouldn't pay this price again for what we got. Most of our colleagues have stayed at Camp Bastian and Tan Swiss with few complaints, and the accommodations are much...